Thrasher



L. H. THOEN Nov. 10, 1931.

THRASHER Original Filed Nov.

M;- EYS so p rtion f a c mbin d h est r,

' the mechanism being shown schematically] Q the carriage so formed to be drawnover the Patented Nov. 10, 1931 UNITED Mme mw 11., mm or mama; easements; essxeuea FY. were asslsnnrrr s,

"IO CATERPILLAR TRACTQB CD.

CALIFORNIA meme sea "was; a 1927 ser al My in en io r lat s itoiher tine" chine y and ispart eular y con rned w h thIfflShQI or with the separator portion .of a

combined harvester which are adapted tothrash grain to segregate the kernels of grain and the straw. c I

, An object of my invention is to increase a I the e ic'i ney Of thras ng me anis A t'hereb'ect of my nv nt o s t recover more of the grain kernels from the traw 4 i A f h bjQCliOf y in t o i O c itat he rav l o t e gra n b ing t r h he separat ng m cha m:

My inventionpossesses other advantageous ea u s, some of h h with he oreg g 'willbeset iorth at length in the followingdescription where I shall outline in full that form of the thrasher of my invention which 2.0 I have selected for illustration in the drawing accompanying and forming part of the present specification. In said drawing Ijhave shown one form of thrasher embodying m n ent on, ut it s to be understood that Ido not limit myself to such form since the invention, as set forth in the claim, may b embodi d'in a p a ty f forms:

The drawing is a seetionin a vertical plane thru" the longitudinal axis of the separator portions of v Inits preferred form,

my invention preferably comprises means for lifting andpro pelling in an upward direetiongrain discharged from a grain carrier so that the preferably includes means for gdireeting a current of air thru the dispersed mass of While my invention is applicable to thrashing mechanisms of various sortsyit shown in the accompanying drawing as-it is embodied inthe separator unitor' thrasher portion of a combmed harvester which "most respects is similar to the well"known' Holt harvester shown in Patent'N 61954394: to B. Holt. This mechanism ordinarily in cludes a framework 15 sup rtingthe machinery and mounted on w eels .6' to enable the separating house is an enclosure bounded -by walls 8 and of the belt.

In addition Q3? SAN LE NPB'Q, AL FORNIA A OE OMT QN- zs a Renewed efiuarv .7, 1930:

fieldof grain to be harvested. The standing rainis often cut by a header unit, as is well 'nown, and is discharged from the draper or the header unit into the feeder house 7 of mechanism. The

contains a belt 9 or Jackson feeder for rea j 'ceiv-ing the cut grain and conveying it toward a cylinder 111- and cooperating concave 12 -1 nounted in the framework 5 at the end to the J ackson feeder 9 as shown in Patent No. 206,456 .to B. Jackson, there is usually provided a feeder house-heator i 13 'operating to impel the cut grain to entei-jbetween the rapidly revolving'hylinder 11 and the stationary concave 12. As the grain passes thru the cylinder and concave-unit ino st ofthe heads are stripped from the straw and a large" proportion of the grain kernels are dislodged. "All of the grain emerging from the cylinder and concaves deposits upon the grain feeder 14." In one embodiment this comprises a belt'16 passing around a pair of parallel rollers 17 and '18suitahly journaled 'd'i iferent levels in the framework '5 and carrying cells l9into Whichthe grain kernels fall and on which the. strippedlstraw rests.

The material dislodged from the cyhinderis'dire'c-ted ontothe grain carrier -by-a grain carrier locate-1'21 usually including a revolving' drunrmounted in the framework 5 and having projections engaging the straw to distribute it on the grain carrier '14. Any

I l grain which is not properly arranged strikes grain is in a loose, dispersed mass and also' feeder Y against bluff boards 22 hinged to a partition the grain a'sso far described is the straw and a few stillattac'hed kernels ex tending across the top thereof.

1 As the grainwarrier rounds the roller 1 7,

the kernels" contained in the cells 1-9 are spilledlout onto a; saddle board Qfl and turnhle onto a separatorishoefid The separator shoe comprises a flat screen which, tegether withthe saddleboardQ l, is violently agitated so that all suitable grain kernels are shaken thru the screen andfall down an incline 27 toward a grain augeras.

To aid in the separation of suitable kernels ,from unsuitable grain kernels on the separator shoe 26 a fan 29 is rapidly revolved. in. suitable hearings in the frameworkfi and u I directs a blast of air from the underside of the separator shoe tending todislodge chaff carried thru an elevator; 31 to a recleaner.

The recleaner comprises the driving mechanism of and undesired portions of the grain. The grain which lies within the shell of the auger 28 is thus comparatively free from undesiredparticles but is further cleaned beforeit is recleaner 32 is augmented by a current of air emanating from a rapidly revolving fan 33 journaled in the framework 5 and driven by The grain passing thru the recleaner screen I drops onto the partition 23 I to. an auger34t which carries ittransversely of the mechanism to an elevator 36 leading 1 to a sacking platformi37.,jThis grain-has been finally passed by 1 the and travels down I ready to be discharged therefrom. Unsuitable grain which doesnt pass mechanism.

' :feeder anda valuable fraction of the remain- 7 s ns treating all of the remaining grain kernels canibe re coveredtherefrom.

.9 provide a conveyor or conveyo rs adja-f,

" cent the discharge end of the grain carrier,

in this instance including a pairjof pickers T j 38. Eachpicker ordinarily comprises arapa revolving drum 39 from which; project I radially apluralityof picker fingers 41.

y I I havefound thatwhen the pickers are revolved in opposition to th g a le w s, he in carrier, they-tend to force ,the grain downsame directionried or is impelled upwardly. TlllS action revolved in the sam an agii grain that has been suificiently treated and to withhold, V weeds and undesired grain. The elfectofthe the separator unit,

machine and is th n the cleaner screen 32 discharges over the end thereof 1 onto the grain carrier 14 and 5 ithrutheprimary thrashing II lt happens that in previous machinesnot all'pfthe grain kernelsare separatedfrome the straw before it discharges from the grain nels, passes overithe end foflthe carrier and again progresses I I I I I the straw carrier I I I structure wh le the remalmng, straw,

grain kernels is notrecoveredthe. result of numerous experiments with mecha:

r nismsofthis sort, Ihavediscoveredthat II a particular manner the straw; f :d e e emit rain; err er-p a m y.

of the pickers is augmented by another conveyor comprising a beater 42 which usually includes a pair of frames disposed on an axle at 90 to each other and preferably is v e direction as the pickers and grain carrier.

The effect of the unidirectionally rotating pickers, beater, and grain carrier, is to impelupwardly 5 the grain discharged from the grain feeder. Thus the straw. is; separated into a loose, dispersed massiwhichis very light and open and has been described as a fog of straw. The mass of loosely compacted straw permits the remaining grain kernels to .drop-gravitally therethru andgfall onto the saddle board 24 and the separator shoe 26 or onto a. strawcarrier.43Jlj'llhis straw car rier is sim i lar' to the grain carrierfin that it usually includes a belt, .t'pass ng around a pair'of'rollers' 46 ands? suitably j ournaled in the frameworkb andrev'olved in the same direction as the grain "carrier. j -The belt of the lstr'a'w' carrier retains thestr'aw but is foraminousto permit the kernels to drop through onto the'separator shoe '26. a Grain kernels separate readily from the loose straw mass d scharged by the. pickers and beaterbut the yield is augmented by a fan 4 8 installed in the'framework to {direct a current of'air thruithe' loosely related and highly dispersed mass ofstraw passing upwardly from the pickers beater. currentof air not. only tends to dislodge any Ichafi which may be The present but further sepand aids in permitting the to drop. Those falling on 43 pass thru its 'foraminous being substantially free. fromcontained grain kerarates the straw contained I kernels is discharged froni th e thrashe'r.

. The kernelsthathave passed'thru' straw I they aregsuita'ble,l fall to the, grainfauger 28. I I I I I I II I The kernelsnot discharged fromtheinitial In accordance with my invention I 'prefer-' leithen'the initial.or the? final portionslof the separator shoe screen is finally discharged frointhe end. ofthe, machine as, unfit for "further; treatment] The. auger .50 carries the grain transvers'elyof thefm,achine,to', an elevator .51. which cond'uct'sfit 'to a: conduit 52 I I leading. into .theife'eder house 7.. near the wardly and to make the straw so compactthat the grain kernels therein are; not readily; available. I In accordance with my invention, I revolve the pickersin the l I that the grain carrier. revolves with the ref I sult that the straw which they engage is car;

beater I 13.: This grain 'is-"tlira'shed' and con- I tinuesits cycle .until'itfalls. thru the initial portl n. of the separatorshoe and'isi carried totherecleaner 32. 7

.duced into my gmachin'e very thoroughly treated for the recovery'of the grain kernels and for the separation of straw and weeds therefrom. The action and efficiency of the machine are greatly enhanced by the pickers 38 and the beater 42 together with the blower 48 which keep the straw passing from the end of the grain feeder in a loosely compacted light mass so that the residual grain kernels can fall therefrom 'gravitally. It is largely to this feature that I attribute the efliciency of my thrasher. I have found that my thrasher in practice leaves at the sacker platform a grain which is remarkably clean and free from contamination and that the straw discharged contains practically no grain kernels.

I claim:

A thrasher comprising a grain carrier, a pair of pickers, a beater, said pickers and said heater being substantially in line with said grain carrier, a straw carrier, means for driving said pickers and said beater to carry straw from said grain carrier over said pickers and heater to said straw carrier, and a fan substantially underneath said pickers and beater for directing a current of air over said straw carrier and thru the straw carried to said straw carrier by said pickers and heaters.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set m hand.

y LOWELL H. THOEN. 

